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Chet Gresham

Targets and Touches

Week 8 Target Watch: NFC

Here are the NFC Targets for Week 8. You will find all the target information you will ever desire and if you don’t, well, give me five bucks and I’ll make some up for you. Bang it here for Wednesday's AFC targets.

Here are the red zone target leaders through the first seven weeks of the season. Most of these guys are doing pretty well this year for some reason.

Red Zone Target Leaders

Rank

Wide Receiver

Tar

Rank

Running Back

Tar

Rank

Tight End

Tar

1

Marques Colston

15

1

Darren Sproles

9

1

Heath Miller

13

2

Victor Cruz

13

2

Joique Bell

6

2

Kyle Rudolph

9

3

Brandon Marshall

11

3

Ray Rice

6

3

Rob Gronkowski

9

4

Vincent Jackson

11

4

LeSean McCoy

5

4

Martellus Bennett

8

5

Percy Harvin

11

5

Jamaal Charles

4

5

Greg Olsen

7

6

Larry Fitzgerald

11

6

Adrian Peterson

4

6

Anthony Fasano

7

7

Julio Jones

10

7

Arian Foster

4

7

Jimmy Graham

7

8

James Jones

10

8

Ronnie Brown

4

8

Dennis Pitta

7

9

Eric Decker

10

9

Pierre Thomas

4

9

Aaron Hernandez

6

10

A.J. Green

10

10

Steven Jackson

4

10

Antonio Gates

6

To start saving space I’ll be showing you the last 6 weeks of targets on each individual player, but the total targets are for the whole season.

Larry Fitzgerald on a team with a good quarterback would be the only player with the skills and work ethic capable of challenging Jerry Rice’s unchallengeable records, but instead of getting Steve Young after Kurt Warner he gets a garbage truck full of Leinarts and Skeltons dumped on him. This of course has nothing to do with targets, but Fitzgerald deserves better than this.

Andre Roberts came up with another big game and led the team in targets, but when you check out his week-to-week stats, those big games are pretty far in between. He only has three games in double-digit fantasy points, weeks one, four, and seven. So that makes four weeks where he was pretty much useless if you started him. And when you look back at the matchups, there is little rhyme or reason as to why he came up big. I’ll need to see more consistency from him.

After William Powell fumbled, it turned into the LaRod Stephens-Howling show. They had planned on splitting carries, but the fumble and The Hyphen playing well turned that plan around. I’d like to give The Howling a chance to be a Darren Sproles type player, but even if he is, the Cardinals are not nearly a New Orleans Saints type team. I don’t see Powell going away that easily and Beanie Wells will return at some point. With the 49ers up next we can safely sit him and see how his touches look.

The best news to come out of the Panthers loss to the Cowboys was the usage of Jonathan Stewart. He didn’t have a great game, but was on the field for 58 snaps compared to 15 for Mike Tolbert and five for DeAngelo Williams. This is great news for a player who deserves a chance to be the guy. He has shown top-10 ability most of his career and if he can get the touches, is very much worth your fantasy interest. Of course he gets the Bears this week who have been playing like another team on the lake from 1985.

Steve Smith continues to be the target hog in Carolina and put up decent numbers, even against a tough Dallas pass defense. He’s still legit. Louis Murphy saw his biggest target numbers on the season, but didn’t do all that much with them. There’s a good chance that will be Murphy’s high in targets on the season. Brandon LaFell and Smith are the two go to wide receivers and that shouldn’t change without an injury.

Matt Forte is fully back, with 22 rushing attempts in each of his last two games. He gets a couple nice matchups against Carolina and Tennessee the next two weeks, but then faces a gauntlet of Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, Seattle and Minnesota again. That’s some ugly business.

If Dez Bryant says he’s fine, his targets and playing time say otherwise. After 28 targets in two games, he totaled a measly three against the Panthers when on the field. He played in 70% of the snaps, which was down from his normal 85-95%.

Miles Austin took up Bryant’s slack and looked much more like the pre-Bryant’s target bonanza Miles Austin. Until we know Bryant is 100%, Austin is the safer bet going forward.

The post-DeMarco Murray running backs split time on the field almost evenly. Felix Jones was on the field for 33 snaps to Phillip Tanner’s 36, but saw five more targets and six more touches while accumulating 36 more yards. But really the biggest gap is in the passing game and as long as Jones can stay out of the infirmary, he’s got the most upside.

The biggest target news out of this game was the loss of Nate Burleson for the season. He was averaging eight targets a game and those targets will have to go somewhere. During this game they went to Titus Young and Ryan Broyles. Young had eight targets to Broyles’ four, but Broyles also had two red zone targets to Young’s zero. Both have highish ceilings going forward, but Young is the “veteran” of the two and has a better chance of winning the target race.

Mikel Leshoure touched the ball 18 times for 83 yards, which is pretty good when you think of how well the Bears defense has been playing. Unfortunately Joique Bell was given three red zone looks to Leshoure’s one, but Bell fumbled a golden opportunity at the goal line. Leshoure is still the guy to own in Detroit.

Here are the NFC Targets for Week 8. You will find all the target information you will ever desire and if you don’t, well, give me five bucks and I’ll make some up for you. Bang it here for Wednesday's AFC targets.

Here are the red zone target leaders through the first seven weeks of the season. Most of these guys are doing pretty well this year for some reason.

Red Zone Target Leaders

Rank

Wide Receiver

Tar

Rank

Running Back

Tar

Rank

Tight End

Tar

1

Marques Colston

15

1

Darren Sproles

9

1

Heath Miller

13

2

Victor Cruz

13

2

Joique Bell

6

2

Kyle Rudolph

9

3

Brandon Marshall

11

3

Ray Rice

6

3

Rob Gronkowski

9

4

Vincent Jackson

11

4

LeSean McCoy

5

4

Martellus Bennett

8

5

Percy Harvin

11

5

Jamaal Charles

4

5

Greg Olsen

7

6

Larry Fitzgerald

11

6

Adrian Peterson

4

6

Anthony Fasano

7

7

Julio Jones

10

7

Arian Foster

4

7

Jimmy Graham

7

8

James Jones

10

8

Ronnie Brown

4

8

Dennis Pitta

7

9

Eric Decker

10

9

Pierre Thomas

4

9

Aaron Hernandez

6

10

A.J. Green

10

10

Steven Jackson

4

10

Antonio Gates

6

To start saving space I’ll be showing you the last 6 weeks of targets on each individual player, but the total targets are for the whole season.

Larry Fitzgerald on a team with a good quarterback would be the only player with the skills and work ethic capable of challenging Jerry Rice’s unchallengeable records, but instead of getting Steve Young after Kurt Warner he gets a garbage truck full of Leinarts and Skeltons dumped on him. This of course has nothing to do with targets, but Fitzgerald deserves better than this.

Andre Roberts came up with another big game and led the team in targets, but when you check out his week-to-week stats, those big games are pretty far in between. He only has three games in double-digit fantasy points, weeks one, four, and seven. So that makes four weeks where he was pretty much useless if you started him. And when you look back at the matchups, there is little rhyme or reason as to why he came up big. I’ll need to see more consistency from him.

After William Powell fumbled, it turned into the LaRod Stephens-Howling show. They had planned on splitting carries, but the fumble and The Hyphen playing well turned that plan around. I’d like to give The Howling a chance to be a Darren Sproles type player, but even if he is, the Cardinals are not nearly a New Orleans Saints type team. I don’t see Powell going away that easily and Beanie Wells will return at some point. With the 49ers up next we can safely sit him and see how his touches look.

The best news to come out of the Panthers loss to the Cowboys was the usage of Jonathan Stewart. He didn’t have a great game, but was on the field for 58 snaps compared to 15 for Mike Tolbert and five for DeAngelo Williams. This is great news for a player who deserves a chance to be the guy. He has shown top-10 ability most of his career and if he can get the touches, is very much worth your fantasy interest. Of course he gets the Bears this week who have been playing like another team on the lake from 1985.

Steve Smith continues to be the target hog in Carolina and put up decent numbers, even against a tough Dallas pass defense. He’s still legit. Louis Murphy saw his biggest target numbers on the season, but didn’t do all that much with them. There’s a good chance that will be Murphy’s high in targets on the season. Brandon LaFell and Smith are the two go to wide receivers and that shouldn’t change without an injury.

Matt Forte is fully back, with 22 rushing attempts in each of his last two games. He gets a couple nice matchups against Carolina and Tennessee the next two weeks, but then faces a gauntlet of Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, Seattle and Minnesota again. That’s some ugly business.

If Dez Bryant says he’s fine, his targets and playing time say otherwise. After 28 targets in two games, he totaled a measly three against the Panthers when on the field. He played in 70% of the snaps, which was down from his normal 85-95%.

Miles Austin took up Bryant’s slack and looked much more like the pre-Bryant’s target bonanza Miles Austin. Until we know Bryant is 100%, Austin is the safer bet going forward.

The post-DeMarco Murray running backs split time on the field almost evenly. Felix Jones was on the field for 33 snaps to Phillip Tanner’s 36, but saw five more targets and six more touches while accumulating 36 more yards. But really the biggest gap is in the passing game and as long as Jones can stay out of the infirmary, he’s got the most upside.

The biggest target news out of this game was the loss of Nate Burleson for the season. He was averaging eight targets a game and those targets will have to go somewhere. During this game they went to Titus Young and Ryan Broyles. Young had eight targets to Broyles’ four, but Broyles also had two red zone targets to Young’s zero. Both have highish ceilings going forward, but Young is the “veteran” of the two and has a better chance of winning the target race.

Mikel Leshoure touched the ball 18 times for 83 yards, which is pretty good when you think of how well the Bears defense has been playing. Unfortunately Joique Bell was given three red zone looks to Leshoure’s one, but Bell fumbled a golden opportunity at the goal line. Leshoure is still the guy to own in Detroit.

The Packers and Aaron Rodgers were once again their efficient selves against the Rams. Rodgers only had seven incompletions, so you know his targets were productive as usual. Jordy Nelson is back to his old self, catching eight of nine targets for 122 yards and a touchdown, but the bigger news is Randall Cobb. Cobb played his biggest percentage of snaps on the season, with 70% and caught all eight of his targets for 89 yards and two touchdowns. And with Greg Jennings still hurting, Cobb should continue to get his looks.

Alex Green had plenty of opportunities as he rushed 20 times for 35 yards against the Rams, but as you can see, he didn’t do that much with them. There’s some reason for concern, but this is just one game. Instead of James Starks, John Kuhn backed up Green. Starks may see some more looks going forward, but it’s hard to know for sure until we see Starks actually get on the field.

Jermichael Finley saw his lowest number of targets on the season with just two and his lowest time on the field sans injury with 60%. His value continues to trend to the gutters.

Percy Harvin was the best fantasy player for the Vikings not named Adrian Peterson last week, but he did only see 58% of the snaps. They didn’t really need him with Peterson running all over the world, but it gives me a sick feeling deep in my coccyx because we saw this last season. I’m not overly worried though. I’m probably just a little shell-shocked from last year.

The passing game as a whole took a back seat and Kyle Rudolph had the seat furthest back as he caught zilcho of his four targets. His four targets still tied for second to Harvin’s five due to the 8 for 17 day by Ponder. With the Vikings defense and Peterson both playing well, it will hurt the passing game at times, but Harvin is the real deal no matter his touches.

Marques Colston leads the NFL in red zone targets with 15. While Jimmy Graham has been hurt, he has easily been one of the best fantasy players in the league. But make no mistake, Graham will take away some red zone looks when he returns. Not enough to keep Colston from being a must start each week, but enough to nudge his ceiling down a bit.

Lance Moore had a great game, catching nine of his 10 targets for 121 yards. He’s only had one poor game this season in PPR leagues. He is the no doubt number two wide receiver on the team this season.

Darren Sproles in on pace for 28 fewer rushing attempts, but 85 receptions, just one off from his 86 of last season. And he’s also on pace for eight touchdowns compared to his nine from last season. The biggest problem is in his rushing attempts and yards and it looks like the coaching staff is prepared to use him more as a runner going forward. There’s really no reason to not be high on him.

Before Victor Cruz’s game winning 77-yard touchdown reception, he had totaled 56 yards and no touchdowns while Eli Manning had totaled 260 passing yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. What a difference one play makes.

Of course that’s not to say anything negative about this duo, because they are getting it done without a doubt. Cruz’s ascension has been a fantasy freak show in terms of numbers. Right now he’s untouchable.

Hakeem Nicks hasn’t gotten back on track yet, but it’s just a matter of time as long as Manning is targeting him ten times like he did last week. And it was good to see Martellus “B.U.” Bennett back with his unicorn blood transfusion. Is he Voldermort? Bennett should return to his pre injury status.

With 23 targets and 140 receiving yards to go around, there wasn’t much for receivers to do Thursday Night. Especially the 49ers best receiver, Vernon Davis, who had one whole goose egg of targets. That is baffling to me. He ran the most pass routes of any player on the team, but saw no targets. If they don’t make it up to him and me against Arizona this week I’m calling my congressperson.

With Frank Gore hurting his ribs we saw a little more Kendall Hunter, but not before Gore and the offensive line wore down the tough Seahawks defense. On 21 touches Gore had 182 yards rushing. The fact that Seattle kept him out of the end zone is something.

With 23 targets and 122 receiving yards to go around, there wasn’t much for receivers to do Thursday Night. Wait, was that an echo? Tate, Edwards and Miller were targeted seven times and not one of them had a reception. You don’t see that too often. This was a defensive and rushing battle to be sure and not much was gained by the target numbers we saw except to say that the Patriots pass defense is just God-awful.

The gap in playing time between Steven Jackson and Daryl Richardson narrowed a bit, with Jackson getting 56% to Richardson’s 38%. Richardson also got three targets and three receptions for 43 yards while Jackson saw no targets. Jackson remains the early down/goal line back, but Richardson continues to eat into his time.

The Bucs continue to rack up the fantasy points and Vincent Jackson continues to get his target fix. Those two things seem to go hand in hand. Mike Williams had a down game, but is having a good fantasy game about half of the time.

My main man Doug Martin is playing well and has quelled any talk of LeGarrette Blount taking work away from him. Well, Blount helped as he ran three straight times on the goal line and couldn’t get in. Of course there is some bad play calling there, but Blount is as dynamic as a slug, a dead slug.

Washington’s story is still being written, starred in and narrated by RGIII. But his accuracy has been amazing this season and if a receiver can step up and not get hurt in the process, he could do some good things. With Pierre Garcon still hurting and Fred Davis out, there is a void that could be filled by the current target leader, Leonard Hankerson. He’s not a mortal lock by any means, but he’s who I’m putting my nickel on.